Facebook Comments Update – Press Enter to Post Your Comment

Alright now Facebook junkies, you might have noticed that there’s something different happening when you’re commenting in your friend’s status.

Previously, there was a ‘Submit‘ button which you have to click in order to post your comment.

Now the button is gone and has been replaced with a message that says ‘Press Enter to post your comment.‘.

So now you don’t have to click no buttons no more whenever you’re commenting. Just type your stuff, and press ‘Enter‘ on your keyboard. Done!

So… is this update good? Is it an improvement?

The Pros and Cons

Ok, let’s look at the obvious advantage first.

Previously, when you hit the ‘Enter‘ button on your keyboard while typing a comment, a line break will be inserted. So this update would obviously make it easier and faster for users to submit comments without them having to type and then reach for the mouse to click the ‘Submit‘ button, therefore allowing for better usability and faster commenting.

Another minor point improved is that redundant space used up by the button is now gone for good. That’s about 20 – 30 pixels vertically.

Now, for the one and only disadvantage.

You gotta hit ‘Shift + Enter’ to go to a new line.
That’s all, no big deal.

Still most people don’t like this new enhancement. Reason is they’ve been used to hitting Enter to break the line, but now Enter submits the comment straight away. A lot of folks are accidentally submitting comments unnecessarily. Some even claim nothing happens when they hit Enter.

So guys, what do YOU think about this ‘enhancement’?

By the way I saw this online, don’t think he really said that, but it sure is funny:“F%$K paragraphs, that’s why.” – Mark Zuckerberg

You’re right, multiline is for wussies, and forget those who believe otherwise. It’s not a big deal for you, therefore it must not be a big deal for anybody else. UI design is all about annoying the most people for your own personal comfort.

Em, no. Saving pixels is nice, but not the be-all and end-all standard for usability, and definitely not worth making it more difficult to make multi-line comments.

The reason it doesn’t works sometimes is due to older browsers and script blockers (using a button doesn’t require a script). Now we’re killing compatibility for the sake of usability.

“So this update would obviously make it easier and faster for users to submit comments without them having to type and then reach for the mouse to click the ‘Submit‘ button, therefore allowing for better usability and faster commenting.”

No, it’s not so obvious. It confuses people. They’re used to having a button, so they look for one. And if they want multiple lines, they have to press an extra key. Ignoring a common case is not good UI design, and I’d say multi-line comments are a very, very common case. Adding another keystroke to create a new line is not a good UI design choice.

I believe that the line saying ‘Press Enter to post your comment.’ would be enough to educate the user on how to submit a comment. The removal of the Submit button may be an act of ignorance to a common case in good UI design like you said, but I think it’s worth trading with an extra mouse-click. It will confuse people at first, but people will get used to it.

As for the ‘Shift + Enter’ for a new line, most people might not be comfortable with this at first, but once they get used to it, it wouldn’t be much of a problem making new lines.

Well the bottom line is, any change on Facebook’s UI would either impress or anger users. Facebook’s designers can’t satisfy everyone, but I believe that they are competent enough to determine that a certain change they make will satisfy the majority.